He was stock still now, and he remembered everything.

The little girl in the sky rise building with the golden hair and the gleaming eyes. He remembered because it was the first time he saw the lights. He sat beside her on the windowsill and watched them rise, like fireflies dancing before a velvet curtain. They were an audience enraptured by an enthralling mystery.

It captured them until long after the final lantern lost its flame. He looked down at the girl with her head cupped in tiny palms, still staring at an empty sky. "Quite a show, huh?" he murmured.

She smiled a reply, but didn't look over to meet eyes with the stranger. Her mind wandered and she remained, revelling in the memory and the excitement of those past few moments.

When she looked up he was gone.

And he didn't see her waving goodbye to the darkness as he sailed away on a whirlwind of air.

"Do you remember, Jack?"

He stared straight ahead, wide eyed. She reached out and touched his arm, a look of concern blooming in her expression.

"Jack?"

He turned to her and without a second thought, he brought her into a tight embrace. And though the chances were she would push him away or run or cringe, none of that came to mind. All he could think of was the little girl watching the lights who had believed in him this whole time.

"Jack, what are you –"

His head was buried in the crook between her neck and her shoulder, and she could feel hot pinpricks melding into the fabric of her summer dress. Tears. He pulled himself away and put his cold hands on her arms, back slightly hunched so that their breath collided and danced in the air as one. His eyes were glistening.

"Don't forget me, alright Punzie?" he said, voice shaking. "Promise me?"

"Hey, I couldn't forget you even if I tried." she put his hand on his chest and looked into his eyes (god, those eyes) and said, "It's a promise."

He smiled at her the way he smiled the first time when she'd told him her name. He let out a sigh and let his arms fall to his sides. Rapunzel suddenly felt cold once he'd let her go. "Alright then." He said, wiping his eyes dry with the base of his palm. He sniffed. "Where was it you were taking me?"

"Ah, I thought you'd forgotten!" Rapunzel replied, grinning. "Onward!" And she set forth once again, bare feet pacing the blacktop road as the boy followed suit, frost blooming beneath his feet as they went.

They followed the road until they hit the city. By now the streets were filled with the constant hum of cars and buses and bikes and people. Filled with all the insignificant things that Jack had spent an eternity trying to get back.

He came to a halt on a deserted street corner and looked around, panicked. "It's not far from here, is it?"

Rapunzel raised an eyebrow and noticed his timid gaze towards the milling people nearby.

"Wanna go the quiet way?"

He looked at her with a smile of relief. "Okay."

They made their way through the silent side streets and blocked roads laden with snow. They never stopped talking the whole way there. By noon a small deserted shopping district came into view. Three rows of small buildings boxed in a small fountain where the water had frozen over to form a crystal curtain of ice, as though suspended in time. He could almost hear the water trickling.

Jack let out a breath of air. "It's surreal."

Rapunzel nodded and smiled to herself as she watched him take everything in. He saw that every store was shut down and abandoned; a blanket of dust covered the window panes and door handles of every building. Lamp posts lined the grounds, glass covered in a thick frost that snaked and curled and bloomed. It reminded her of fern leaves. It reminded her of summer.

"You know, we should come here in the spring and make a wish in the fountain," she said.

He looked at his hands and started to fidget. "We'll see," he murmured.

Rapunzel flinched. She realised the words had cut him deep – had he ever seen the spring before? "Hey," she said. She broke his fidgeting fingers apart with her own and held onto his hands so he would look her in the eye. "Anything can happen, right?"

"Yeah," he nodded slightly. Looking down he noticed that she was still holding onto his hands. "Um."

"Hm?" she said, raising her eyebrows. She looked down and her eyes widened. In a hurried movement she let go and brought her hands behind her back, blushing furiously. "Sorry." she murmured. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear and looked around the abandoned district, averting Jack's eye.

Jack couldn't help but chuckle. She threw a glare in his direction and he pursed his lips, but the smile wouldn't go away.

Rapunzel cleared her throat. "Come here. I want to show you something." She hurried over to one of the empty stores and peered inside. Jack followed her with his hands in his pockets and a smirk on his face. "What are you doing?"

"God, which one is it?" he heard her murmur.

"You looking for something?"

"Maybe."

"Mind if I ask what?"

"Maybe."

He laughed. "Then what is it, Punzie?"

"Ah, you'll see." she in a sing-song voice.

He groaned. "Have I not told you before that patience is not exactly my forte?"

"Eh, you mentioned it once or twice." She was clearing away the dust atop another store window and peering inside. "I think we've got it!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

"Whoa, don't get too excited there," he said with a grin, throwing his hands in the air and backing away slowly. She shot him another glance but this time the corner of her lip was curled up into a tiny smile. She pulled a rusty key out of a small pocket on the front waist of her summer dress and unlocked the front door.

"Hey, where'd you get that?"

"I found it under one of the pot plants," she said, gesturing to a wilted rose bush beside the front door. He raised an eyebrow and she let out an exasperated sigh. "I come here a lot, okay? And it's not considered breaking-and-entering if the place is abandoned." She paused for a moment. "I think."

He laughed. "Then lead the way."

She turned the doorhandle and the door opened with a loud moan. With an excited laugh she danced into the store. Jack followed behind with an outstretched arm; man, this place was dark.

"Punzie?" he called.

"Yeah?"

"I need a little help here,"

He heard a laugh and resounding footsteps and he saw her figure coming towards him. "Come o-on," he heard her say. He felt her hand on his wrist dragging him forward, and now all he could see were the vague outlines of bookshelves and tabletops and ornaments.

He almost fell over her when Rapunzel came to a sudden halt. "Alright, follow me." she grabbed onto the rungs of a ladder (since when had that been there?) and ascended into the ceiling.

"Why exactly are we climbing into the roof?"

"Just go with it, Jack!" he could hear the smile in her voice. "You'll find out soon enough."

He followed her up the ladder and he found himself in a loft. It was bare except for the piles books stacked on the wooden floor and the paintings covering the wall. One small window took up most of one side and an old chair was placed beside it. Rapunzel sat on the windowsill, bare feet dangling over the edge; 'above an abandoned district frozen over by ice', the thought sounded kind of poetic.

She looked up when she felt a hand on her shoulder and saw Jack sitting beside her. "You okay?"

Rapunzel nodded. "Just thinking." She cast her gaze to the horizon and lost herself in the view. The city wasn't far behind them, but they didn't realise. All they could see were plains and mountains and hilltops covered in a thick blanket of ice. "Pretty, isn't it?" she sounded distant. "I used to come here a lot. I'd read and I'd paint ..." she paused. "But mostly I'd just sit here and think, you know?"

He looked at his hands again. "Being – well … me, thinking actually turns out to be one of my – er – 'forte's'." He sniffed, eyeing the sky as every painful memory came flooding back. And it felt like his chest was burning and that he was drowning in icy waters again and he squinted his eyes shut in an effort to make it all go away, even if only for a little while.

But the memories didn't leave him. He opened his eyes and managed four words. "But I hate it." His heart felt heavy and his body felt numb. He looked down and his fingers began to fidget again. Go away go away go away go away he thought furiously.

Rapunzel slipped something into his hand. He splayed open his fingertips and saw a silver quarter resting atop his palm. He looked at her, confused.

"Who says we have to wait 'till spring?" she said. "We can make a wish whenever the hell we want." She was smiling, and he saw her fingertips pinching a silver coin between them.

He grinned. "What are you, a walking treasure box or something?"

"Hey, they're called po-ckets. Maybe you've heard of them before."

He smiled and shook his head, staring at the coin in his hand. "So what do we do with it? Where's the fountain?"

"Who says we need a fountain? Wish away my friend, just wish away." She squeezed her eyes shut and for a moment she was completely still. There was a hint of a smile on her face and he found himself wondering what she was thinking about.

Opening her eyes, Rapunzel turned to him. "You made your wish?"

He sighed and closed his eyes. "This is stupid, Punzie."

"What? Like you've never made a wish before?"

He shrugged his shoulders and stuck out his bottom lip. He thought for a moment and said, "But my wishes never came true – it's like we're jinxing ourselves or something."

"And that's not stupid?" she laughed.

He shook his head in defeat with a smile on his face. "Alright." he murmured.

What's he wishing for? she wondered, looking over at him. His brow was wrinkled in concentration and he was breathing deeply. She wondered if his wish had anything to do with her. Don't be stupid, she thought, looking away. She tried to lose herself in the view again but her mind refused to wander. Don't think about him don't think about him don't think about him it chanted.

He opened his eyes after a moment and the brightness of the day caught him off guard. Blinking rapidly he heard her ask, "All set?"

He looked down at the quarter in his hand. "What do we do now?"

"Well, we'll just pretend that this," she gestured to the snow-covered expanse before them. "Is our wishing fountain. So just," she lightly tossed her coin into the air and caught it again. "throw it."

"Right-e-o," he said, pulling his arm back behind his head. He looked over at her and watched her do the same. "All set?" he asked.

She nodded and flashed him a smile. "Three … two … one …"

"Go!" he cried, and together they threw their wishes into the chalky abyss and they screamed cheers of joy and threw their hands up in the air. And they clapped as though they were the audience of a Broadway show and they laughed and they didn't even know why.

She leaned over and rested her head on his shoulder and sighed with a smile on her lips. And he rested his head on her own and they looked out onto a view that Rapunzel had never shared with anyone before – endless fields laden with snow and ice, filled with all the little things that reminded her of him.

"The view's pretty great, huh?" she said.

"Eh," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "I've seen better."

She sat up, and when she left his shoulder to look him in the eye, he felt cold, and the thought confused him. Looking at her he saw the hurt in her eyes and put his hand on her knee. "Want me to show you?"

"Show me what?"

"The better view. Do you wanna see?"

She laughed. "I have seen a great many views in my lifetime, good sir, and I, for one, am an expert on the subject." She spoke in an attempted British accent. Crossing her legs and straightening her back, she said to him, "This here, boy," she jabbed a finger towards the mountains. "Wins the declaration of the year. And that is that."

"Hey –"

She put one hand on his mouth and poked him in the ribs with the other. "You don't have a say on the matter, peasant, because I happen to be British and you happen to be …" she paused, biting her lower lip. "Not." She finished, crossing her arms over her chest and giving him a smug smile.

He chuckled and clapped his hands together. "You are a terrible impersonator!" he said the words cheerfully, and it took her a moment to comprehend what he'd said. She punched him hard in the shoulder and said defiantly, "Let's see you do better."

He stepped down from the windowsill and bowed, extending his hand. "Would you like to see the view, milady?"

She scoffed. "What, now? I thought you were talking Google images or something – where are we going?"

He grinned. "You'll see."

She took his hand and hopped of the ledge onto the old wooden floor. "Just letting you know, this will always be my favourite lookout, and nothing you do is going to change my mind." For each of the last three syllables he received a prod in the chest. He just grinned and told her, "You'll see."

And with that he jumped onto the windowsill, grabbed onto the eaves and pulled himself onto the roof.

"Oh my god, Jack, what the heck are you doing?" Rapunzel cried, running to the window and craning her neck to the sky. She couldn't see him over the eaves.

She screamed as she felt cold hands grabbing her under her arms and hoisting her up onto the roof. Her bare feet slipped on the tiles and she stumbled, flailing her arms as she looked around hopelessly for something to hold onto.

"Woah there, Punzie; I gotcha." Jack said, holding onto her waist to steady her. She gripped his shoulder as she tried to regain her balance, her eyes wide and focused on her feet.

"Hey, I'm not going to let you fall." He said, rubbing her arm in reassurance. He pressed his forehead to hers and looked her in the eye. "I promise you, Punzie, you're going to be fine." She slowly raised her gaze to focus on his face, and when she met his eye she felt this radiating warmth in her cheeks. Oh god she was blushing. (Stopitstopitstopit) She gave him a smile and a nod and he did the same.

"You ready for the view?"

She crinkled her brow in confusion. He smiled at her and took a step to the side and laughed when he saw her cup her hands over her mouth at what she saw. And this time it wasn't just a view, she was surrounded by all the beautiful things – the snow and the mountains and endless plains of ice and frozen lakes and the final rays of a setting sun.

"Oh my god, Jack," she breathed behind closed fingertips. They couldn't keep the smiles off their faces. "Oh my god, Jack!" she squealed and gave him the tightest of hugs. He could only hug her back for a second before she let go to gape at the view once more. "It's incredible," her smile had broadened and one hand lay on her chest – she was slightly startled at the freezing temperature of her fingertips but it soon went forgotten.

"Punzie," Jack said. She turned around and saw him lying on the roof with his hands behind his head. He tilted his head to his side as a gesture for her to join him. She obliged and sat down beside him, and he saw that she was still taking in the scenery. "Change your mind about your 'declaration', have you?"

"You know, I think I have." She looked down at Jack and tilted her head to the side.

"Oh god, you're not asking for another favour are you?" he groaned but he was still smiling. She laughed and lay down. "Thanks for the view, Jack."

"And thank you for the three mile hike."

She smirked. "You are more than welcome."

So they lay there, talking and sharing stories as they watched the sky grow dark and the first of the evening's stars begin to light up the sky.

*author's note: alright, if you've read thus far then you are officially my favourite person in the world. Ohmygod thank you so much IloveyouIloveyouIloveyou asdfghjkl. (I am such a professional, don't you think?) I'll try have the next chapter up within the next two weeks*